College to meet with accuser after public outcry

Pressure is mounting for John Abbott College to take more action about a student’s complaint she was sexually assaulted on campus in June and for the school to allow the victim to see the surveillance videotape on which the case hinges.

In the wake of a story last week that detailed the woman’s account of her assault and the Montreal police department’s decision to drop the investigation after viewing a video of the woman and her alleged assailant, a petition by JAC students and former students demanding more action on the matter now has 1,700 names on it.

After two months of silence from the Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue CEGEP, school officials called the student to a meeting on Tuesday to “address her concerns,” according to John Abbott spokesperson Lison Desclos.

The alleged victim and her parents will be demanding the school suspend the alleged assailant from campus until the matter is investigated. The issue at the top of the list is the student’s safety, said Fo Niemi, executive director of the human rights group that is helping the victim seek justice in the case.

Niemi said the meeting will address campus-wide concerns about sexual violence and one of the key issues for discussion is the student’s right to see the controversial video footage.

That footage appears to be at the crux of the police department’s decision to drop the complaint without questioning the alleged assailant.

The 19-year-old student’s story sparked outrage after it was first published by the Montreal Gazette last week — particularly the Montreal police department’s decision to halt the investigation after viewing the school surveillance video. The decision was hotly criticized on social media sites because of the police insistence the footage led them to believe the assault didn’t happen.

Identified as Emily because she fears using her real name, the student said she met the guy in a summer school class at John Abbott. She claims that after class on June 8, he kissed her, grabbed her throat, slapped her every time she told him to stop, dragged her into a boy’s bathroom and pulled her hair and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

She says she was left with a welt on her neck and a bite mark on her face after the alleged assault, so she was stunned when the primary investigator in the case told her video footage from the sixth floor of the college’s science building made it look like the victim “enjoyed it.”

Montreal police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant confirmed last week the investigation was dropped based on what was seen on the video and the belief footage from the cameras “contradicted what the victim said.”

However, the bathroom where the worst of the alleged assault happened is not covered by surveillance cameras. And the footage did not have sound, police confirmed.

What shocked Emily most is police did not question her alleged assailant before dismissing her case.

Emily turned to the human rights organization, the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), for help and will attend Tuesday’s meeting with CRARR’s director, Niemi, and her parents.

“My first concern is for her safety when she goes back to school,” Emily’s mother said in an interview Monday. “We will ask that he not be allowed back to school until there is further investigation.”

While she said she is pleased about the meeting and hopes it “is a start,” she worries about her daughter’s return to school later this month and will press for further action.

News of the alleged assault also led to a petition spearheaded by students and former students demanding “temporary suspension of the perpetrator” until the case is appropriately handled, an apology for the victim and willingness on the part of the college to show its commitment to taking such allegations seriously and instituting mandatory first-year sexual assault education for all students.

Emily said Monday it’s been a huge boost to her morale to have students supporting her through the petition.

“It really makes me feel good to know that so many people care about this,” she said.

PIERRE OBENDRAUF The woman who said she was sexually assaulted on John Abbott College campus while taking a summer class in June has been called to a meeting to “address her concerns,” a college spokesperson says.